New Year's Day

The main event in Illinois politics Monday evening was a televised debate between the top candidates for governor in the Nov. 4 election. But the undercard — a joint appearance on public TV by the candidates for state comptroller — provided the most interesting moment. WTTW-Ch. 11 moderator Carol Marin asked incumbent Republican Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka whether she believes the state's income tax rate should be allowed to fall, on schedule, from 5 percent to 3.75 percent in January. That schedule was set in early 2011, when, to address urgent shortfalls, the Democratic legislature passed and Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed a rate increase from 3 percent to 5...

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Stay home for the holidays
Regarding "It Might Be Too Late to Land Holiday Deal" by Catharine Hamm, Oct. 12: What amazes me about articles like this is, why does everyone have to go home every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas and maybe New...

It's not even the middle of October and I'm already worried — on your behalf — about booking Thanksgiving and year-end holiday travel. Why? Fuller-than-ever planes and increasing demand, thanks to a better economy. We don't often associate...

Rich Rodriguez is the man of the hour after his unranked and unbeaten Arizona team defeated No. 2 Oregon, 31-24, on Thursday night.
Brady Hoke definitely is not the man of the hour, facing heavy scrutiny for letting Michigan quarterback Shane Morris stay...

Branded as a sixth or seventh defenseman by the Pittsburgh Penguins and unsure if he could rise above that ceiling, Ben Lovejoy wondered if his hockey career had stalled before it had really begun.
"I would have gone to Antarctica for a fresh...

The recent Made in America Festival, the first big pop concert in Grand Park, generated $144,000 in rental income that will be funneled into increasing regular programming in the downtown park.
It’s up to the Music Center, which has a contract to run the...

A blue-ribbon committee convened early Sunday to choose the weekend's low-light playoff team.
The 13-member panel was fictional, formulated in a columnist's post-Oregon drive back to the hotel, but included so many upstanding citizens its credibility...

If there's such a place as 4th heaven, that's where pregnant Beverley Mitchell might be.
The "7th Heaven" alum, who played Lucy Camden on the long-running WB series, is expecting a second child with husband Michael Cameron, the actress' rep...

"Sing so loud Jay Z can hear it," Chance the Rapper hollered Sunday from one of two stages in front of Los Angeles City Hall. It was a reference to the hip-hop mogul and mastermind behind the two-day Budweiser Made in America festival, where...

It's going to be one of the biggest concerts of the summer, drawing performers such as Kanye West and John Mayer and as many as 50,000 fans to Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
For weeks, organizers have been urging ticketholders to "Go...

The family of Oscar Grant, who was killed in 2009 by a BART police officer, will join the parents of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown on Sunday at a rally to call for peace after weeks of racial tension rocked this St. Louis suburb.
...

It took a hundred years, but college football finally caved to the faucet drip of public persistence by agreeing to stage a four-team playoff starting this season.
Fare thee well to mythical champions crowned by wire services, matrices and wing nuts.
...

The closer didn't close Monday night. Didn't need to.
The new guy on the Angels roster, who has made the Angels roster a much better one, got a rare restful night at Dodger Stadium, thanks to Garrett Richards' dazzling, complete-game five-hitter.
Huston...

If the college football playoff started today and the USA Today coaches' poll still mattered, Florida State would play Oregon in one semifinal with Alabama and Oklahoma pairing up in the other.
The Seminoles and Ducks would play in the Sugar Bowl on...

The Fourth of July is the most dangerous American holiday weekend of the year, experts say.
The National Safety Council estimated that there would be 385 deaths and 41,200 injuries -- including car crashes, swimming incidents and fireworks...

Attracted by live music, food and an elaborate fireworks display, thousands of people filled Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Friday to celebrate the Fourth of July under a hot afternoon sun.
In another sign of a resurgent city core, event...

When Councilman Dave Weaver, who has for decades captained the decoration of Glendale's Tournament of Roses Parade entry, asked his colleagues this week to set aside money from the city's reserves to pay for next year's float, silence followed.
None on...

— The streets of South America's largest city were oddly quiet Saturday.
Brazil's prized national team was playing in the second round of the World Cup, so by noon, after all the stores and restaurants had closed, you could walk down the center of the...

Insurance company backers of a bill to tighten requirements for ridesharing companies are taking nothing for granted in a battle with such high-tech companies as Uber and Lyft.
The insurers have put together an unusual coalition with consumer advocates...

Comedian Kathy Griffin will be hosting this year's Daytime Emmy Awards. But she won't have the assistance of Anderson Cooper, who has co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve coverage with Griffin for the last seven years. With 20 stand-up specials under her...

Perhaps the most concise way to summarize Michael Feinstein's work over nearly 30 years as a prominent keeper of the flame for the Great American Songbook is to say that the Great American song title that least applies to him might be Duke Ellington and...